Pros And Cons Of Confucius

It took years for the students of Master Kong, who is also known as Confucius, to understand and learn his teachings of how to become a gentleman, or superior man as Confucius said. It also took a couple of more years for his students to interpret those teachings and entirely understand them in order the live a moral and ethical life of a gentleman. During that time it meant everything for a man to bring honor to his family, to serve to their society, to live and follow morals and the rituals. In The Analects of Confucius, translated by Chichung Huang, Master Kong had several teachings of how to become a gentleman and what defines a gentleman or superior man. The rituals were open for all men to learn and follow so that they could fulfill the life of a gentleman. Although anyone was able to follow the rituals, men needed to follow the rituals as well as gain wisdom, virtue and righteousness in order to become a gentleman. To become a gentleman, men must follow the rituals, but anyone could have claimed they did such thing. Confucius once said, "I have never seen anyone who loves virtue as much as he loves beautiful women" (Huang 105). By this he meant that
Many people could argue that Confucius' thinking of a superior man only benefits the man himself. While it is true that the superior man would seek virtue for himself, he used his knowledge to help not only himself and his family but the people in his community as well. Whether it was to help them with a family problem or to help them seek virtue, it was the duty of the superior man to do what he could so that he helped his people. The people in that society might have thought that the journey and responsibilities of the superior man were quite honorable. And so it was part of their culture to bring honor to their family. Their families, as well as their community, were proud of those who helped society